EWING, N.J. - The 21st-ranked TCNJ field hockey team opened up conference play in a big way Saturday afternoon, scoring early and never looking back en route to an 8-0 win over William Paterson.
Â
The Lions (6-3, 1-0 NJAC) wasted no time getting on the board Saturday, turning their second corner of the afternoon into the game's opening goal.
Prisha Dhruve inserted the ball toward
Jadyn Huff at the top of the circle, whose pass set
Rachael Tetzlaff up to fire one inside the near post and give TCNJ the 1-0 lead.
Â
Just over four minutes later it was
Codie Sciacca striking for her first of the game, capitalizing on an opportunistic touch in the circle by
Nika Eschmann before willing her shot past the Pioneers' (1-8, 0-1 NJAC) goaltender as well as a defender on the goal line to double the Lions' advantage.
Â
It looked as though TCNJ's lead would hold at two after the first, but a corner just before the clock expired set the Lions up with one more chance. Their initial attempt resulted in yet another corner that allowed the quarter to continue with the clock at zero, before it was Huff finding Tetzlaff again to put the hosts up 3-0 after one.
Â
Great individual efforts from both
Avery Gower and Eschmann saw the lead balloon to five halfway through the second, with Eschmann securing her first career multi-goal game by scoring her second two minutes later to send TCNJ into halftime up 6-0.
Â
The Lions' seventh and eight goals of the afternoon came from seniors Sciacca and Huff. First was Sciacca, who one-timed a deflected pass from Dhruve beautifully into the top corner of the cage before Huff followed her own shot off a penalty corner to put the game away for good.
Â
Neither side registered a shot in the fourth quarter that saw TCNJ own possession for almost its entirety, with the final buzzer locking up the 8-0 win for the Lions.
Â
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- TCNJ took all 38 shots in the contest, putting 21 on cage.
- The Lions also took 15 corners to William Paterson's zero.
- Huff led all players with 11 shots, while Sciacca put a game-high five on goal.
- Brigitte Racey played 50:40 before making way for Casey Kozelnik, facing zero shots.
NOTES
- The multi-goal game was the first of Tetzlaff's career.
- Huff registered at least one goal and one assist for the second straight game.
- Eschmann has now found the back of the cage in three straight.
- Sciacca now has six goals in her last two outings after being held scoreless in her first seven.
- Gower's goal was the first of her collegiate career.
UP NEXT
- TCNJ is on the road Wednesday, Oct. 7 to take on Kean, with game time set for 4 p.m.
